Got talent? Independent baseball league sets tryouts

If you’re a young baseball player and you’ve always thought you had the ability to play professionally, now’s your chance to prove it.

The United Shore Professional Baseball League, an independent minor league, will conduct open tryouts May 16-19. USPBL managers and members of its advisory committee will be on hand searching for potential talent.

Eligible players must be at least 18 years old and have been born on or after Jan. 11, 1990. No player may have attained the age of 26 prior to January of this year. Players with college eligibility remaining should check with their school compliance office before registering.

Players will be vying for spots on the Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers, representing Oakland County, and the Utica Unicorns and Eastside Diamond Hoppers, representing Macomb County.

“The tryouts will be a situation where there will be quite a few guys looking for the opportunity and we will give them every opportunity to showcase what they have in front of all of us coaches,” said Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers manager Chris Newell, a Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes graduate who owns and operates the The Player’s Edge baseball facility in Auburn Hills. “We will make the determination whether they are good enough to continue on or whether they have to get a real job, per se.”

Tryouts will be held at the Evolution Sports Complex in Auburn Hills (141 S. Opdyke Road) and Lake Orion High School (495 Scripps Road) under the following schedule:

• May 17, 9 a.m. to noon: Professional player evaluation drills; three-inning live action games (Evolution Sports Complex)

• May 18, 9 a.m. to noon: Players will be placed in game situations and live games (Lake Orion High School)

• May 19, 9-11 a.m.: Situational baseball and live games (Lake Orion High School)

The inaugural USPBL season will consist of a 48-game schedule among the three teams at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, located just north of M-59 and a half-mile west of Van Dyke. The state-of-the-art facility is visible from M-59.

The USPBL will conduct a draft May 19 and team rosters will be announced May 23. Training camp will commence the week of May 23. The USPBL’s opening day is scheduled for May 30.

The USPBL’s main goal is to develop players and send them off to the major league level.

“We’ve been actively communicating with more than 1,000 coaches from top universities and colleges, as well as monitoring over 100 seniors from NCAA Division I and Division II, to identify and sign players from the best schools to bring our fans the highest level of professional baseball,” said Bloomfield Township resident Andy Appleby, league founder and CEO. “We want every player that comes through our league to get a chance at making it to Major League Baseball and we’re extremely confident that will happen and that dreams will be realized.”

Newell will be assisted on the Beavers by Rich Donnelly, who has 43 years of coaching experience.

The USPBL’s other coaching tandems include Greg Grall (manager) and Shane McCatty (assistant coach) of the Utica Unicorns and Paul Noce (manager) and Jim Essian (assistant coach) of the Eastside Diamond Hoppers.